SC agrees to hear plea seeking to deport illegal migrants

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Central government to identify and deport illegal migrants and infiltrators, including Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas refugees, within one year.

Taking note of submission of the petitioner, lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta agreed to an urgent hearing and posted the matter for July 9.

The plea claimed that huge numbers of illegal migrants who have occupied vast tracts of land, particularly in the sensitive international border areas, which has “very serious implication for national security.”

Upadhyay also accused such people of indulging in illegal and anti-national activities, mobilization of funds through hawala channels and human trafficking. In his plea, he has also sought a direction to amend laws and declare illegal migration as cognizable and non-compoundable offence.

“Large-scale illegal migrants, particularly from Myanmar and Bangladesh have not only threatened the demographic structure of bordering districts but have seriously impaired security and national integration, particularly in the present circumstances,” his petition said.

“The need for expeditious identification of illegal migrants is more pressing now than ever. It is not a matter of dealing with a religious or linguistic group but question of identifying those who illegally crossed over the border and continue to live in India contrary to law and the Constitution,” he said.

Upadhyay also claimed a sharp increase of Muslim population in bordering districts, adding that the ethnic, linguistic and religious commonality between these people with residents of the country’s border areas makes their detection difficult and enables them to find shelter in the country.

Some political parties have been encouraging and even helping illegal migration with a view to build ‘votebanks’ and these immigrants work for lower remuneration than local people, the plea said.

The plea alleged there was an organised influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar, with agents and touts facilitating ingress of Rohingyas via Benapole-Haridaspur and Hilli (West Bengal), Sonamora (Tripura), Kolkata and Guwahati.

It also added that apart from immigrants, a large numbers of smugglers regularly cross the border and are engaged in smuggling goods and livestock from India into Bangladesh to avoid high tariff imposed on some Indian goods by the Bangladesh government.

Bangladeshi women and girls are also trafficked to India and via India to Middle East for forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation, the plea said.

Upadhyay also sought action against the travel agents, government employees and other people involved in providing fabricating documents to illegal migrants and infiltrators.

135 Myanmarese sent back from Mizoram

Assam Rifles has sent 135 refugees from Myanmar back to their country and also provided them with 15 days of ration to sustain themselves, a Mizoram district official said on Wednesday.

“Assam Rifles troopers sent back 135 Myanmarese belonging to 54 families to their country late on Tuesday. We have also provided them 15 days of ration,” Lawngtlai district Deputy Commissioner Shashanka Ala told IANS over phone.

She said around 219 Myanmarese refugees were staying in four villages of Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district since November 2017 after they fled from the Arakan (Rakhine) state of Myanmar following ethnic troubles.

“Of the 219 refugees, including children and women, 84 people voluntarily went back to Myanmar and on Tuesday, Assam Rifles sent back another 135 Myanmarese nationals,” Ala said.

An official of the Mizoram Home Department said the refugees feared for their safety and were reluctant to return to Myanmar.

“The Union Home Ministry has recently asked the Mizoram government to deport these refugees at the earliest,” the official said refusing to disclose his identity.

According to him, during the armed conflict in November 2017 between the Myanmar Army and Rakhine-based militant outfit Arakan Army, over 1,700 refugees from Myanmar villages entered Lawngtlai district of southern Mizoram.

“Majority of the refugees subsequently returned to their villages but around 219 immigrants were reluctant to go back even as Myanmar authorities said there was no trouble,” the official said.